The [expletive]‘s have cut my salary. The Moneyman and his Right Hand. I really do not understand their roles or which one of them it was, but I feel they are both underhanded and must have canived in order to justify it.
“Oh,” the Right Hand told me yesterday, “I might have some bad news for you.” The word ‘might’, in this sentence, is completely obsolete, as The Right Hand and I both know it is definetally bad news.
“We’re going to cut your salary”.
Sigh. My first reaction was to just stare in front of me blankly, because I had been expecting something like this. I should know by now that the only time she engages me in casual conversation, is when she “might” have some bad news for me.
Adding the word ‘might’ to something definate, is just another one of China’s perpetual polite habbits. Unless she views her salary being cut as a good thing. More money for the good of the school perhaps? Do you think they’re discounting the parent’s for my poor performance?
Anyway, first in December, they moved me from the other school to teach only in this school. Then they whittled down my classes and later on cancelled some more. I was actually expecting to get fired.
I’m not angry at the fact that the kids think my classes are boring, it might well be. It’s not that they’re cutting my salary, because I did’t work all that much in December. And it’s not so much that she said they had cut my salary the previous two month either. I didn’t even notice.
What bugs the [expletive] out of me, is the fact that they never told me any of this. If the kids think my classes are boring, for god’s sake, tell me! If not for my sake, for the sake of the poor students who struggle to keep awake in my class. “So,” I said, “you cut my salary, because of bad performance reviews and you don’t tell me so that I can improve. Why didn’t you tell me 2 months ago or since then?”
“I didn’t know how to tell you” she says.
If I had murderous tendancies and a weapon of opportunity I would have been arrested later that day.
So since yesterday I’ve been like a Grizzly Bear woken up in the middle of winter with a tooth ache and hemeroids. I’ve been avoiding eye contact with students and kids (the little [expletive]‘s, if they were involved in getting my salary cut) and just minding my own business. Besides, I’m trying to get “Liang Zhi Hu Die” down for my upcomming performance and have had the song on repeat for the whole day.
My performance has now been moved to the same day as the ‘End of Year Dinner’ the school is hosting. I say dinner, but for some odd reason we’ll start at 4pm. That’s fine by me, we’ll be finished eating by 5.30pm and start drinking, and by 7pm the teachers will be fall-over drunk. Just in time for me to depart and go to my ‘gig’ which starts at 8pm. All marvelous pieces of the puzzle really.
Unless, of course, at the last minute the school announces a change of arrangements. Actually, I’ll start a betting pool with high odds FOR that happening. The only predictable thing is that they’re unpredictable.
See, this is why I’ve said before this Blog is my Therapist. I’ve been mulling this over for two days straight and found it hard to concentrate on my song. So now that I’ve penned it (or keyed it? Which is correct?) I feel much lighter.